A typical business environment would like all processes to be assessed for improvement possibilities. The competitive business world demands that all business processes be at their peak performance levels at all times to meet challenges. These challenges, as defined by the ?Voice of Customer? and the projections of ROI, are not fixed but moving targets.
For business success, organizations have to realize the contribution of employee assessment. Employee assessment results in measurable metrics called ?Employee Ratings?. Business organizations embarking upon an employee rating exercise, use internal and cross organizational surveys which assess ?as is? conditions with regard to perceptions of employees about their work environment.
The survey may be divided into two parts; one preliminary and the other comprehensive. A representative sample of employees may be taken into confidence for conducting what can be called a preliminary interview. The interview has to be invariably conducted in a formal environment for the feedback to be as real as possible. The purpose of this employee assessment exercise is to find out the present situation so that the metrics can be compared with the goal, point by point.
Preliminary Assessment Guidelines
Some researchers have identified 15 such aspects that affect organizations? working environments. Employees may be interviewed for, for example on:
?Whether Six Sigma implementation reduced their workload ?Whether Six Sigma implementation improved their work climate ?Whether Six Sigma implementation helped reduce process time in their perception ?Whether Six Sigma implementation helped eliminate process variation ?Has it come to their notice that reduced defects reduced wasteful reworking ?Whether Six Sigma improved the position of the organization, in their view
The findings of the preliminary survey may be representative sample feedback and further assessment is strongly advised. The feedback may reveal two different things. The obvious one being the assessment of employees and the other important one is employee perception of the project itself. Although the latter is only relative, it serves as a wakeup call.
Before embarking on a comprehensive survey, the feedback from the initial survey must be analyzed in view of theoretically expected results, which were set at the time of project implementation. All possible deviations must be scrutinized with a view toward concluding whether there has been positive impact on employee performance. The analytical results lead the way for the final, comprehensive employee survey.
A Brief On The Comprehensive Employee Survey
For conducting the final survey, the team must consist of at least a couple of Master Black Belts, one from the HR department and the other being from another respective department for obvious reasons.
Having equipped itself with the preliminary feedback, the survey team need not take indirect paths to extract results. Further, the survey must include all employees, obviously for individual assessment, unlike the preliminary interview. The feedback is recorded on spreadsheets and charts are drawn.
Employee assessment is not necessarily for downsizing staff, as is the common misconception. For the future success of Six Sigma, the team must approach the assessment without being biased.
Six Sigma is not just for large multinational corporations. While there are difficulties inherent in implementing Six Sigma in a small company rather than a large business they can be overcome. Six Sigma can work in any size business because the nature of Six Sigma is dependent upon characteristics inherent in any business, not on the size of a business. Smaller organizations frequently are short on resources and expertise in change initiatives. However, they also have more flexible process flows, a shorter decision-making chain, and higher visibility of senior management. Smaller organizations can actually effectively establish Six Sigma faster than large businesses if deployment scope is correctly managed.
Scope of Deployment
Six Sigma is designed for all-inclusive deployment across an organization. However, s maller organizations do have constraints that limit their ability to initiate a large scale Six Sigma implementation. If your organization does not have the resources to create an infrastructure for organization-wide Six Sigma deployment then start with a pilot program.
One of the beauties of Six Sigma is that its central methodology is scalable. Six Sigma, emphasizes intensive training and extensive analysis�"qualitative characteristics that work regardless of the size of the organization. Likewise, Six Sigma DMAIC (design, measure, analyze, improve, and control) discipline s work no matter the size of the organization or even the size of the Six Sigma project. Even a small Six Sigma project can yield significant results. Breakthrough improvements in processes and bottom-line profitability come not from quantity of resources, but the quality and the intelligence with which they are employed.
Small and medium-sized organizations may not have the resources of larger companies; however, in most cases, smaller organizations can be more nimble, flexible, and focused on results. Approaching initial implementation of Six Sigma through a pilot program will yield tangible results without overwhelming your resources from a small “quick-hit" project. These results can then be replicated throughout the organization, in many cases even faster than in a large organization.
Issues Critical to Smaller Organizations
When deploying a pilot Six Sigma project there are several important issues to consider inherent to smaller organizations. First, the choice of a project is critical. The pilot project will set the tone for Six Sigma deployment, so it should be a good one that can show significant and visible results in a reasonably short period of time. The project must clearly address one or more business goals thereby contributing to one or more core enterprise measures. Each project must also be completable within three to four months, so careful upfront scoping is essential. Projects must be continually tracked and updated for line management during existing business reviews.
Another issue is training. In smaller organizations, training budgets and especially time available to devote personnel for training is limited. Thus, it is not always practical for personnel to be absent from their day-to-day duties to attend months of training. Fortunately, there are some Six Sigma consultants who can deliver required Six Sigma training in an accelerated format and even onsite. Thus, smaller organizations can give their people the needed training with less disruption to their normal business, improving internal synergy while providing greater organizational flexibility.
Six Sigma implementation teams can encounter critical resource restrictions, often due to a personnel limitation where people are available for project functions only on a part-time basis. It is essential at project inception that the right people are involved, doing the right things. A small but committed force of the right people with proper training, given the proper authority will go far in getting things started. Good and fluid communication is also critical.
Upon successful completion of the Six Sigma pilot, the scale of the deployment is then expanded to other areas of the organization, incorporating the lessons learned from the pilot project. Just as it is much harder for a large ship to turn than a small ship, smaller organizations can change and adapt more quickly than large organizations. That does not mean that small organizations will automatically be successful when deploying Six Sigma, but making change take place and getting buy in to the changes are easier.
Peter Peterka is President of Six Sigma us. For additional information on Six Sigma Deployment or other Six Sigma Master Black Belt project programs contact Peter Peterka http://www.6sigma.us/
Both Tony Jacowski & Peter Peterka are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online and certification classes for lean six sigm. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Peter Peterka has sinced written about articles on various topics from Six Sigma, Leadership and Six Sigma. Peter Peterka is President of us. For additional information on. Peter Peterka's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.